Calls: Ellbow to the face has to be a red card. Not taken seriously after this decision.

7.3

Style: Silent, serious and stern, but unshaken for 60 minutes,

7.5

Fitness: No problem spotted.

7.5

Positioning: Okay.

7.3

General assessment

1. The ellbow incident lost him half a mark and his credibility.
2. Video systems needs improvment.
3. Refereeing at this Confed Cup was below par on the whole.
4. Mazic was not bad, but not to his full potential (FIFA instructions?)

Reports for this match (4)

1) report by referee0011

9.9

Control: Great

9.9

Calls: So powerful

10.0

Style: I like his style

10.0

Fitness: amazing

9.9

Positioning: Great

9.9

General assessment

Another great performance, well done!!!Great YC(VAR) decision in 67', after WC 2014 and RC

Control: Very good before the YC by VAR, struggled after that but actually no disaster

7.9

Calls: VAR!!! FIFA's instructions are a total mess, WC2014 all over again. In UEFA, MaÅ¾iÄ surely decides RC. If you are anti-VAR you are laughing and smiling at this championship, still it is pressed on for next year when it desperately need developing ove

8.5

Style: Actually very good approach to this challenging match. Not thaaaat sociable but didn't need to be, not interested in making friends on the pitch, good feeling for when he needed to verbal warning players etc etc

8.4

Fitness: No problems

8.3

Positioning: He got wide on the YC to Jara but apparently had no perception on it

8.3

General assessment

Seriously best performance of the whole championship before the YC by VAR, and then a little bit chaos but still okay. Outcome of this championship:- VAR skeptics have a massive argument, I am happy, football is better for refereeing mistakes and never will we see another Webb in ATL-BAR- FIFA refereeing is in crisis, Busacca amazing referee, awful manager, I am sorry for him being a puppet to other people, especially on VAR.- MaÅ¾iÄ, Rocchi, Skomina and Pitana will attend WC 2018- Gassama, Faghani and especially Roldan damaged pretty sure tickets but will probably make it- Al-Midarsi is no WC referee (yet)To be quite honest I'd rather watch Confederations Cup 2013 on replay, empty stadiums, disaster refereeing and GER-CHI were the only good matches. WC2018 should be fun...

Where does refereeing at FIFA tournaments go?

Refereeing a game is a virtue in itself and officials should do so impartially without external influence. Although this has always somewhat been a myth, since FIFA WC 2014 political correctness seems to be more the measurement of referee performances than the laws of the game. Milorad Mazic dismissed a portugese player in the first match against Germany and was widely criticized for it. This time, he punished an ellbow to the head of an opponent by a mere yellow.

The ref is not the man he used to be...
... as there was a shadow hanging over him. This shadow of the missed red card was heavily haunting him afterwards as his control of the game slipped and his authority severely suffered. Obviously, FIFA does not like refs to dismiss players unless it is absolutely necessary and to book only if the game gets completely out of hand. Jara ellbowed Werner on the outside line with a swing of an ellbow which even in Rugby terms would have been a swinging arm to the head resulting in a sending off. He looked on the screen and after long three minutes produced a caution.

The first 60 minutes
Mazic started strong, cool and in control. For 60 minutes, he was absolutely on top of things. He whistled quite often, but eased all upcoming tensions with Serbian seriousness and stern looks which are characteristic for him. He doesn't talk to players, but he handled the Bayern brawl with Kimmich and Vidal quite nicely with two bookings.

Video Assistant Referee versus Team Match official (TMO)
The video assistant referee system was supposed to help the official by avoiding mistakes when in doubt. How it worked at this Confed cup it has rather shaken the credibility of refs decisions. The procedure is not clear, the protocol seems confusing, it takes forever and the final results leave often more question marks than answers. Why not learn from Rugby who use team match officials for quite some time: The ref decides if he wants to refer the scene, he watches the scene on the big screen and asks the TMO what his recommendation is. The public hears the discussion. The ref calls the culprit and the two captains over, explains in two sentences what will happen and why and everything is clear. For the Video assistant referee, we need three officials, two technicians and still the teams bully the real ref for every push to look on the big screen. FIFA has to clarify the protocol and to strengthen the authority of the field ref if they don't want to lose control over the match completely.

Control issues
Towards the end, Mazic lost the grip on the game. The second half was bad and not a lot of football was happening. Germany hold on to the lead and physically to the ball as Can fell on top of it and wouldn't give it back. Mazic looked fluffy in view of the turn of events with Chilli complaing over every decision and Germany only trying to delay things. Sadly, he crumbled in the last 30 minutes after a good start.

The next WC
I fear that the next WC will be as in 2014. Refs trying to avoid controversial decisions, keeping cards in the pockets and being lenient just for political reasons. Other comment: Some refs were out of their depth at the Confed cup and sank completely. UEFA officials were not flawless, but better than most of the rest. Some African and AFC officials have some serious control issues to sort out in my opinion.